Griffiths, 33, will not be eligible to play for the Sky Blues until the Australian transfer market opens.

Farina said off contract players should not be restricted from playing outside the transfer window:

“I don’t agree with the window here. Joel Griffiths was off contract the 31st of December so it’s not as if he’s still contracted to a club.”

Farina has said that the restrictions were an unwelcome change from previous years:

“In good faith they [the A-League] put the dates down thinking it was going to be the best thing for the league but for us, in our situation”, Farina said.

This may be an irritation for cashed-up Sydney FC, but for poorer clubs it provides an opportunity to bring in cover after European and Asian clubs raid their playing stocks.

A-League league chief Damien de Bohun says, “The main rationale for this change was to allow clubs to sign new players during the relevant European registration windows… While also allowing clubs to sign new players after the European registration periods close, enabling clubs to replace players that move late in the relevant transfer windows.”

Are they wrong though? Griffiths contract expired on December 31st so why shouldn’t he be allowed to start on January 1? I can understand why it goes into February but why not just make the window a bit longer? besides this is a free-agent not a paid transfer. Many leagues around the world allow free-agents to sign for clubs, and clubs to loan players, outside of the traditional transfer windows.

Besides, ithe A-League transfer window doesn’t apply to clubs operating in leagues using the usual January tranfer window. There is nothing stopping an A-league player being sold to an o/s club and leaving on January 1. It just means that if this happens the A-league club has to wait two weeks before signing a replacement.

As for the “cashed up” line, Griffiths isn’t a marquee player so he counts in the salary cap which is the same for everyone. Sydney FC’s financial status is irrelevant to this debate

The “cashed up” line was not meant to be a reference to the Griffiths situation, it was made regarding the overall financial stability of the club in contrast to teams who often are required to sell players to maintain financial viability.

Player movement between HAL clubs is not done on the traditional “sell & buy” model, an example of which would be the sale of Demba Ba to Chelsea from Newcastle Utd. It is done on a “release and sign unattached player” model. For example, BNE and Visconte mutually agree to terminate. At this time Visconte is unemployed. He then signs with WSW as a free agent.

Since this isn’t a transfer, why does player movement between HAL clubs have to wait to the transfer window? Why should Visconte have to wait to mid Jan, when last month it might have been better for all three (3) parties (BNE, RV and WSW) to have done this move earlier?

First of all, “transfer” is a dirty word we like to use which is slang for what FIFA describe as “registration”. In the FIFA regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, FIFA sets out that registrations may only be made in two annual periods decided upon by the League’s governing body (within a set time frame, of course).

“Players may only be registered during one of the two annual registration periods fixed by the relevant association.”

FIFA does provide an exception where contracts have been mutually terminated, as in Visconte’s case:

“As an exception to this rule, a professional whose contract has expired prior to the end of a registration period may be registered outside that registration period. Associations are authorised to register such professionals provided due consideration is given to the sporting integrity of the relevant competitions.”

FIFA explains that this means:

“Although not expressly mentioned by the Regulations, a player who has mutually agreed with his club on the early termination of the employment relationship before the expiry of the registration period also falls under the aforementioned exception. The mutual termination of the employment contract must occur before the end of the registration period for the player to fall under the aforementioned exception.”

So Visconte could under FIFA rules be registered early. However, it is up to the rules that the A-League comes up with for its own transfer windows. It has no obligation to allow an early registration.

“The possibility of registering players outside a registration period is an authorisation, not an obligation, given to the association concerned. In fact, while considering the sporting integrity of the national competition, the association needs to put in place uniform rules of application for this exception by establishing, for example, the number of players per club that can be registered and the last possible date for these players to be registered.”

So really when a player is allowed to move is essentially up to the governing body who sets the regulations of the particular league.

Andrew- IF EVERYTHING YOU SAY IS FACTUAL,AND I HAVE NO REASON TO DOUBT IT BECAUSE IT SOUNDS SO SIMPLE ,ARE NOT THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF A “WORKER” BEING INTERFERED WITH FOR IF HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE FURTHER EMPLOY UNTIL SOME THIRD PARTY DEEMS IT OKAY TO DO SO THEN IT GETS INTO A VERY WORRISOME LEGAL FIELD WHICH I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE FFA WOULD SURELY HAVE CONSIDERED IN SETTING THESE RESTRAINTS. OR IS IT SIMPLY AN OVERSIGHT????.jb